What happened to the quality of Australia's restaurants - and its restaurant reviewing?

Before we moved overseas a decade ago we thought Australian restaurants were some of the best in the world. And it wasn't that we hadn't travelled much. We had. But a meal at Testuya's, Rockpool or Aria was better than any we'd eaten at overseas - even in New York. Yet since returning to Australia last year to research a couple of books, we've been so disappointed by Australian restaurants. (Admittedly, we've not yet had the chance to return to Tetsuya's, Rockpool or Aria - we'll try those again next month). We spent over four months on the road, eating out at least once (or twice) a day, and, sadly, we can count the truly memorable meals we've had on both hands - ten great meals out of 120 (minimum) is not good at all. In Italy, where we spent three months researching books before returning here, it was the opposite. (I'll share our top Aussie restaurants with you in another post.) On Saturday night, we took my aunt and uncle out to dinner here in Bendigo to thank them for having us stay at their beautiful house for so long. We took them to what The Age's Good Food Guide considers to not only be Bendigo's best restaurant (for four years running!), but one the reviewer would travel far to eat at. We've used the book a lot this trip and have been disappointed so many times with their selections. The quality of their best choices just doesn't compare to some of the world's best restaurants. So either the quality of restaurant offerings around these days is not very high, the Good Food Guide's standards are no longer as high as they once were, they reviewers are not looking very hard, or they simply need to get out (of the country) more. It's very disappointing. Terry has one theory: read his post What is the price of an average meal?

Pictured? One of Terry's recent dishes, a Tortilla Soup, just one course in a five-course authentic Mexican menu (not Tex Mex!) we made for my aunt and uncle who recently returned from a trip to Mexico. We might not get out much while we're in write-up mode, but we certainly eat well. Better than we do when we go out in Australia it seems! So, what do you think? Has the quality of Australian restaurants declined? And the standards of reviewing too? Or are we just too critical?